Outer Wilds (2019)

The common wisdom for Outer Wilds is to go into it blind. While there's merit to that in many ways, it's also a different enough game from most that I think you'll appreciate it much more if you understand from the beginning that (very light spoiler ahead:)the things that feel like objectives aren't really objectives, and that you really need to embrace curiosity, exploration, and come in prepared to decipher a highly complicated sci fi story and world from fragmented clues. I came in with the wrong angle (and wrong background, frankly) and as a result missed out on some of the game's magic.

There are also some quality of life issues that creep in as the game goes on. Exploration, time pressures, insta-death dexterity challenges, and long respawn-runup timelines are an awkward mix. I feel like there probably was a way to smooth the experience a bit without compromising the spirit of the game, but the devs were too married to their core concepts.

Overall a very interesting, uniques and beautiful game. Under the right circumstances and genre/storyline expectations and personal fit, I can see how this is a GOAT candidate for many fans.

What a game

I have finished the main story days ago (DLC will come soon) but cannot stop thinking about this game and search about it online. It has been a while since I last felt like this, but there is something so special about this game.

While keeping it as spoiler-free as possible, you are an astronaut exploring a solar system. That is the basic premise of the game. The solar system is completely open to you and you have no clear goal or way points to follow. You can talk to people, ask about cool stuff, but it is all on you. As you start to explore, you realize that not only there are beautiful, if dangerous, planets around you, but also remains from an old, advanced civilization. And believe me, you are going to want to know more about all of it.

The game then becomes almost like a giant puzzle, in which clues can be scattered across multiple planets. it might be hard to focus at time, but your spaceship has a log that will become your best friend when deciding what to do next. However, it will never tell you directly were to go and what to do. That is all up to you. Which can be daunting but you are a pilot, this is your job.

As someone that usually needs very clear directions on what to do and struggles to enjoy open world games, this was such an immersive and amazing experience, that I am rethinking my whole stance on this type of games. Although I doubt I will find many with the quality of Outer Wilds, a game that jumped straight into my favorite of all time and that produced gaming memories that I will hold forever.

Will leave it here and I go back to convincing all my friends to play this gem. As you should.

Think of a time when you were a kid, fresh in a new place. Exploring a new place called "Home". Opening new doors, exploring old rooms, and even going into places that are marked "bad" by your parents always bring a strange feeling of excitement as you discover new areas. Now, expand that to the size of a solar system and you have Outer Wilds.

The way most games play, like most open world games and mmos, would have you move on the path of least resistance. Outer Wilds is like a grandma who opens the door and says "Now go outside and play" and let you go everywhere in the wide open spaces. Every place in space can be explored, even the Sun itself. You can start your own adventure by either roaming your home on Timber Hearth or braving the dangers of The Bramble. The galaxy is your oyster to play with and explore any way you see fit as you dive deep into the mysteries of a lost tribe who has died long ago.

As a single player game, I definitely recommend playing this if you have a love for exploration, lore, and danger! Mobius Digital and Annapurna did well with this title and I am looking forward to what they have next.

I won't do spoilers but I feel like this game is one of those that the less you know the better.

With that said, you can stop here and go play the game. It is worth it, one is the best games I have played, and it should keeps up at night thinking about it.

Okay, of you want to keep reading her are some comments avoiding anything spoilers or that might spoil the experience.

The game is a master class on game design for exploration games. The game starts by introducing you to the mechanics of the game as you walk through the village. This is done in an organic way, no reading extensive tutorials or instructions. By the time you get the codes to go on your ship you have enough tools for your adventure... And that's it! You get some vague one liners to points of interest you might want to check and off You go out and explore, you experiment. It is up to you the player to use the tools on the best way you see fit, there is not gonna be an NPC or helpful ai that will tell you how to overcome every obstacle.

You don't even know what you are ultimate goal is. You just go and explore! That's the beauty of it, as you get more curious and clever you start unearthing some clues as to what the game wants it to be your ultimate goal.

There is a log in your ship to keep track of all the things you have found but the beauty of it is that it never really spells it out for you on what to do with this information is up to the poster to either make something of it or ignore it. And you don't even need to find everything on the game to "finish" it. You can literally do it on the first 5 minutes if you know what your are doing. I find this fascinating, you are not gated by anything other than player knowledge.

The planets to explore are so unique and varied and full of secrets. They are a joy to explore. The atmosphere is chill but intriguing and it can pull at your heartstrings depending if where you are on the spectrum.

The dlc does more of the same but with different mechanics, you also do exploration but on a different way. It is also separate/parallel to the main story line so you can do it after or before the main base game, although I think is a bit harder so doing the base game is recommended to get familiar with what the game expects from you you.

I personally enjoyed the base game exploration more but the dlc is worthy of you liked the main game. It is a meaty dlc that adds about 10 hours to the game.

Overall the game is fantastic and captures an experience like no other. If anyone knows of a game that has a similar sense of exploration I would like to hear it!

Outer Wilds was one of the most unique experiences I've ever had with a video game. In this indie sci-fi game, you explore the ruins of an extinct civilization in a hand-crafted solar system of diverse, bite-sized planets in order to uncover a mystery and escape a time loop (that conveniently restarts each time you die).

Gameplay

There is no combat -- only environmental exploration, puzzle-solving, light platforming, and using your brain to put all the evidence together to figure out where to go and what to do next. This last part is aided by a very useful computer on your space ship which logs your discoveries, but does not hold your hand and tell you where to go. The game also operates on a very impressive physics system in which planets revolve and rotate in real time and your traversal capabilities, both when flying in your ship and in your trusty space suit, are impacted by minute changes in gravity and weather. I had the impression from the games marketing that survival elements would play a large role in the game play, but these were very limited. You only need to manage your suit's fuel and O2, and if you do die, well, you just wake up at the beginning of the time loop again.

Narrative

The overt narrative in this game is rather sparse. Instead of relying on dialogue and exposition, the game accomplishes it's story-telling goals through player-directed, non-linear exploration. There is one massive twist that occurs very early in the run time of the game which, in addition to the excitement of exploring, I found motivated to see the game to the end. Finding out the cause of this event and how it is tied to the fate of this extinct race of aliens is tied very much to the exploration you complete throughout the game. I didn't really find any of the characters all that compelling however, and felt that the ending, which seems to emphasize a theme of friendship isn't really earned given how much of the playtime is spent in utter solitude.

Aesthetics

The game has a indie, low-budget, almost cartoonish graphical presentation which feels well-suited to the story and never looks bad. Each planet you explore has a unique environment that is presented well, and the design language of these environments, the ruins which populate them, and the technology you use to explore them, are all distinct, cohesive, and original. The game's soundtrack is sparse. Most of the time you play in complete silence, with only the sound of the environment and your suit to accompany you. However, there are key moments in which music does play, all of which feels appropriate and well-suited to the situation. I especially like the synth-wave track that plays repeatedly toward the end of a given time loop and the game's main theme.

Score: 5/5

While no game is perfect, a 5/5 game is one that can be recommend to a broad gaming audience, achieves greatness in all areas of gaming design for it's genre, attempts and succeeds at pushing the medium forward, and leaves a lasting impression that is emotional, philosophical, or amusing in nature.

One thing I've realised about Echoes of the Eye is that the solutions to the different puzzles are all spelled out for you once you find them. In the base game you find written dialogue that points you to somewhere to explore next, but it never really spells out what you need to do.

Perhaps the a quintessential example is how to reach Giant Deep's core. You can be pointed into the right direction by some dialogue and environmental elements, but you are (very explicitly!) not told what to do.

But in Echos of the Eye, a lot of puzzles involve essentially finding the right movie that works like a mini walkthrough. You immediately know exactly what you need to do because you are shown exactly what to do. (Not all puzzles are like that, of course.)

I don't know if it's necessarily worse or just different, but the more I think about it, the less clever it feels.

5/5

Extremely unique and commits whole-heartedly to it's premise, which is rare in games these days (maybe less so in indies). Also carries an immense level of polish and delivers on the power of self-driven exploration. Swings hard emotionally too and hits it out of the park. Kind of a must-play.

15/12/25 5/5

Such a special game. This is my first replay of it and I'm writing this review a couple of months later. I very fortunately managed to forget a lot of my first playthrough. Of course small things would come to me here and there and the final 'solution' was something that came to fairly easily but the joy in rediscovering the lore and secrets behind this world is truly second to none. This time I really did my best to fill in the full log and it is so rewarding. Beautiful game.

I tried really hard to play the DLC and got a fair way through it but honestly it is too creepy for me. I might try it again another time and I still haven't cracked it all yet.

Finished Outer Wilds last night and man I just love the concept of this game, but feel like enough misses on execution kept it from a 5 for me. I had 4 distinct phases of playing this game.

1. Have an incredible time flying around knowing nothing and exploring all there is to see in the system and being excited about figuring out how to connect the weird things.

2. Being frustrated and stuck because my aimless wandering left me with a huge rumor chart but no real sense of direction

3. Re-focusing on a single path and really enjoying uncovering the mystery

4. Frustration with the controls and having to wait it out to do a few things I absolutely knew how to do, but kept screwing up in the time window I had to do them.

For the end game I did spoil myself slightly on a few things to determine whether I was failing at the right thing (usually yes). Very excited to check out the DLC and see what Mobius games does next.

OVERVIEW

• Score: 10/10
• Time played: 18 hours
• Pros: atmosphere, level design, "quest log", exploration
• Cons: I have quite a few nitpicks, but as of now they don't really feel significant enough to list. The more I think about the game, the more I realize they are irrelevant or that I'm actually wrong

Outer Wilds is a one of a kind experience, and as such, I hesitate to talk too much about it. This is one of those pieces that you need to experience at your own pace, knowing as little as possible, to take the most out of it. So, if you haven’t played it, here’s what I can tell you: Outer Wilds is a special game where you explore a small-scale solar system trying to understand progressively more about how that particular universe works and using that knowledge to solve what are effectively puzzles in order to reach new places and uncover even more information. Interested? Go play it! Now, if possible. Everything else you read about this game, from me or anyone else, may be counterproductive to your experience, trust me.

I’m only going to mark as spoilers the really spoilery things, but I really hope anyone reading after this has played the game or at least has no interest in doing so and is just curious about what the fuzz is all about.

REVIEW

Outer Wilds was one of the most immersive experiences I have ever lived in a virtual world. The combination of the graphics, sound design and scope of what you’re doing really makes you feel like you’re there; more than once I have screamed (not too loudly, I promise) upon death or by simply putting myself in a dangerous situation in front of the overwhelming forces of space. The music is brilliant too, and the (literal) writings on the walls that you read to uncover the story of the Nomai are pretty good, making them feel like actual people, with unique voices and personalities.

Level design is usually great and the game adds plenty of quality of life elements to make exploration easier and more engaging. Many areas can be accessed through shortcuts, there are ways to speed up time, an autopilot mode, you can mark visited places to make it easier to find them again if you want to revisit and your little scout is useful more times than I’m able to count.

I also want to give praise to the journal, which is arguably the best “quest log” I have ever seen. It is extremely intuitive to use, saves all the relevant information you need to know where to go, gives you hints about new places to visit, motivates you to keep exploring to uncover all of the rumors and allow you to keep track of your progress and is a great piece of gameplay-story integration all at the same time. The flow of information was perfect, as the game allows you to explore in whatever manner or order that you want, always making progress, always learning new things, unconvering the web of intel that will eventually lead you to an actual goal, though that is never overstated during your playthrough.

As for the story, Outer Wilds was actually more emotionally invested than I expected. The main character is trapped in a 22 minute loop, revisiting his first journey to space until the sun goes supernova. At each cycle, he learns more about the Nomai, an old civilization that explored this same solar system a long time ago, leaving a lasting impact there, including the technology behind the actual time loop he’s experiencing. I was immensely absorbed in learning about them, which helped to give weight to their tragic story. I’m also really impressed by how the game managed to take a sad tale about the universe coming to its inevitable ending into a satisfying journey to cause a new one to be born.

CONCLUSION

Outer Wilds is a fantastic, incredibly well designed game. It makes you feel small and scared at times, often even powerless, but also gives you the tools and the motivation to make a difference. I don’t think I’ll ever replay it, but it achieved more in a few hours than many games couldn’t with hundreds. I’m very happy to have played it and recommend it to everyone.

When I have to nominate a single game as my "favorite" I usually go back to Link's Awakening: a charming little Game Boy game that was simultaneously a quirky offshoot for the Zelda series and hugely influential for what came of the series later. There may be other games that had a more acute impact on me--Myst comes to mind, especially when taken with its whole series--but when I consider the bundle of nostalgia, childhood wonder, emotional reaction, and longevity that Link's Awakening has for me, it has probably been my favorite single video game.

It is in this context that I admit that Outer Wilds may be my favorite game. It carries so many of the little things from games that I love. It's charming. It's well-scoped. It's a mystery. It has emotionally resonant characters. It even has plot elements reminiscent of Link's Awakening, combined with structural components of my second-favorite Zelda game.

And Outer Wilds isn't even a Zelda game. As a series, I'd say Myst is more my favorite than Zelda; and Outer Wilds is, in my opinion, the first true successor to Myst. Myst has had sequels, and even Obduction is a worthy entry in the Myst genre; but Obduction sees the line drawn between Myst and Riven and carries nonlinear archaeological story-telling further than any other game I've ever experienced.

You might not notice it at first glance, but Outer Wilds is a technical marvel, too. The clockwork reliability of its simulation is uncompromising and unmatched. The tangibility of its phenomena is uncanny. It is the Spelunky of Myst games.

The only knock against it, in my opinion, is that the controls require patient practice--something that Myst didn't have to deal with. I've been playing games for a long time, and it didn't take me too long to get used to flying my ship around in Outer Wilds. And even when things went wrong, I accepted it as an intentional, believable part of the game world. But every other person I've tried to introduce the game to so far has bounced off of it because they found it so difficult to control. And that's an absolute shame.

Outer Wilds is great. It is an important, practically flawless game. It tells a story so well-crafted that its discovery always feels immediate and personal. And it ends with a beautiful optimism that surpassed my expectations while calming my fears that I'd leave the game feeling disappointed. The final moments end with a fanfare that I've returned to many times since, to revisit the sentiment it left behind.

Play Outer Wilds. Find someone else who has already played it so they can help you if you get stuck. Because you will want to see all of it, and it is absolutely worth your time.

Imagine a Majora's Mask style time loop but you're an alien astronaut zooming around your small solar system, exploring interesting planets and trying to add as much information as you can to your log before the time runs out. BUT it's all so thoughtfully designed and the loop so relatively short that it never feels too annoying when the loop resets before you're ready.

You are slowly uncovering the mystery of what wiped out an ancient alien race (Metroid Prime vibes)... and why the technology they left is affecting you and the fate of your whole solar system in the present. I can't say it's not a little scary... Abyss of space and all... But you get used to it!!